


Better Than the Alternative

by ABC24



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, minor drug mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 19:50:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17587283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABC24/pseuds/ABC24
Summary: Michelle Jones had a few theories about Peter Parker. Over the past year he had developed some strange habits and occasionally the prose she occupied her time with could be quite dull,so for curiosity’s sake, she made it her business to find out the root of these habits.The truth, as it turns out, was not what she'd expected at all.





	Better Than the Alternative

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, so apologies if any of it is clunky or anything. 
> 
> This is kind of after Homecoming, but you can really place it wherever in your head. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Michelle Jones had a few theories about Peter Parker. Over the past year he had developed some strange habits and occasionally the prose she occupied her time with could be quite dull,so for curiosity’s sake, she made it her business to find out the root of these habits.

Her first theory was one she quickly dismissed as she refused to focus too long on his recently toned arms and legs, along with the peek of abs she’d caught a glimpse of one gym class, it was a distraction she wouldn’t allow herself. Plus, whilst puberty may explain his recent tolerance for cardio, it didn’t explain the phone calls or the alleyways she’d seen him scuttle into.

Her second theory held a little more weight, but that was only if she chose to actually believe in Parker’s connection to billionaire and Avenger, Tony Stark. He had mentioned his ‘internship’ multiple times and a late night google told Michelle that Stark Industry internships were only available to college students. However, he was sporting some newer clothes for the first time since his uncle’s passing, and a new SI phone that no longer sported the array of scratches and cracks, so Michelle came up with the only possible answer; the Stark Foundation had started to cater to victims of petty crime, as well as large scale massacres. This still didn’t explain the alleyways or the phone calls, but Michelle had made a note to look into the possibility. There were a few people at the community centre that could use that kind of help.

Her final theory was the most plausible and therefore frustrated her the most as it forced her to put some distance between the two of them. Not that there was much distance to add, she thought with a hint of bitterness. Peter Benjamin Parker, nerd, loser and the unironic wearer of science themed t-shirts, was a drug dealer.

The thought had perplexed her originally too, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. It explained the weird phone calls, the alleyways, the jitteriness in school, the extra money and the occasional bruise that he had shown up to homeroom with.

She knew better than to get involved with boys like that. She’d heard the horror stories from her father. It wasn’t that she thought he was going to drag her into it; Peter Parker was too nice to do that, but Michelle Jones was too selfish to take nice at face value. Harvard was her dream and she already had the odds stocked against her, she didn’t need any other possible disadvantages lining her record.

That wasn’t to say she didn’t help where she could, like putting on extra Decathlon practices so that he might turn up to those instead of going to the streets. She started essay surgery sessions with her teammates, encouraging them at practice to turn up, in an attempt to keep his grades up so he wasn’t stuck in this cycle. She helped where she could, keeping a large enough distance that she could claim plausibility deniability about how he made his money. Michelle did all this whilst keeping herself buried in her books at the end of their lunch table, only interjecting herself further into Peter Parker’s life when he or Ned went too far with their rambles and she could no longer hold her silence.

She kept this up for months after Homecoming. It wasn’t particularly hard. Peter hadn’t been a staple in her life prior to her discovery, but he was in her periphery now more than he once had been. So, imagine her surprise when on a field trip to the MET Peter manages to turn everything she had done on its head. surprise it really shouldn’t take her by surprise anything weird that happens on a field trip usually happens because of or is related to Peter Parker. Ned was absent due to a work study programme that he’d managed to score, though he was uncharacteristically tight-lipped about what company it was with, so Peter was lingering closer to her than usual.

It’s when their phones start going off on the way into the museum with alerts of New York’s latest costumed villain attacking a few blocks away that Peter drags her into a darkened corner and thrusts his bag at her, starting to unbutton his shirt revealing a familiar red and blue webbed suit. Michelle would have honestly taken that as the dweeb being a fan-boy, but it was his quick rambling that was a mixture of both excited, nervous and scared, talking as if he was making a game-plan that really took her by surprise.

“Parker, what are you doing?” She hissed finally, her mouth catching up to the situation at long last. Peter too seemed to take stock of the situation, eyes going wide and hands pausing as he stood on one leg mid-way through kicking off his jeans.

“I started wearing the suit under my clothes on days like this. It makes it a little easier, y’know.” He said, foot falling and continuing to dance out of his clothes till he was stood in front of her sans mask. As if that explained it all.

Michelle was confused to say the least. She had had theories about Peter Parker and Spider-Man was not one of them, but suddenly everything made a lot more sense and she couldn’t believe she had been dense enough not to notice in the first place. Peter was now rummaging through the bag she still held in her hands. He was muttering to himself, huffing every second or so that he couldn’t find what he was looking for.

“I was more referring the entire get up itself, but yeah, tell me more about the struggles of vigilante costumes.” She answered, watching as his head snapped up from the bag, head cocked for just a moment before everything that had happened in the past few minutes truly caught up to him. The puppy expression departed from his face just as quickly as it had appeared, replaced instead with something more akin to a fish. She’d have to make note of that, so she could draw it later. It’d be funny once they had both processed this, she was sure.

“I thought you knew?!” Peter exclaimed. The proximity and comical wideness of his eyes forced Michelle to realise that these also had to be added to the list of distractions she refused to admit Peter Parker had over her. An explosion sounded out from a few blocks away which seemed to startle Peter back into action, at last pulling his mask free from the bag and sliding it on. “We’ll… uhh, discuss this later. I gotta-“

“Go do your thing, Spidey.” Michelle said with a roll of her eyes, zipping up his bag and sliding it on to her shoulder. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Peter seemed satisfied enough with that. Or at least, that’s what Michelle could make out from the ‘expression’ his eye lenses gave. He nodded for a second then shot a web out, swinging way from her and towards the sound they’d heard a few moments prior, leaving Michelle to sit and take stock of what had just transpired. She turned and went to walk back to the museum entrance to meet up with the rest of her class when a red figure dangled upside down in front of her, startling her.

“Hey MJ, Uh- Just like don’t tell anyone, okay?” Spider-Man- Peter, Michelle’s brain helpfully supplied in an attempt to merge the two identities together.

“I won’t tell anyone, Par-…” Michelle, paused, “I won’t tell anyone.” She confirmed, wincing as another explosion rang out however this time it was closer. “It’s better than the alternative, anyway. So, GO.”

Her words seemed to knock some sense into Peter, flipping the right way up and simultaneously shooting another web out to start his swing towards the fight. Despite the sound of the traffic and the commotion that was starting to occur as people began to evacuate further away from the incident Peter was heading right towards, she could he him cry out “Wait. What alternative?!”


End file.
